The first responding firefighters found flames burning in the rear of the building and spreading up the outside wall, said Ship Bottom Fire Chief Wade Bradley. He said the fire was fueled by "a compromised gas service."

He declined to comment on what caused the gas service to become compromised.

"That's a question for the investigators," Bradley said.

The fire chief called for a third alarm as the fire broke out windows on the third-floor, rallying 100 firefighters from the borough, Beach Haven, Surf City, Manahawkin, Barnegat Light, Barnegat, Tuckerton and Forked River.

Shackleton's family members, attorneys and other employees at work in the office and some tenants in a loft escaped without injury, according to police and Katie Shackleton, a partner in her father's firm who was there when the fire happened.

Police and Katie Shackleton said the fire in the three-story building at 2119 Long Beach Blvd. started in some pallets behind the law office. She grabbed a fire extinguisher and, with the help of Patrolman Ed Williams, tried to put out the flames.

"We thought we had it, then I turned and it was burning up the side of the building. It took off that fast," Katie Shackleton told the Asbury Park Press at the scene.

Police Chief Paul Sharkey said the fire call came in at 3:13 p.m.

"When I got here the building was fully involved in flames and the fire department was already here," Sharkey said as he watched firefighters at the law office, located at the corner of Long Beach Boulevard and West 22nd Street, next to the LBI Pancake House.

The LBI Pancake House was not open at the time of the fire, but some siding on the building melted because of the heat from the fire, the fire chief said.